1. Know Your Audience
Don't invest time or money developing your brand without first knowing your target audience and their needs. You must know what will resonate with your customers in order to talk to them effectively.2. Use Your Knowledge Carefully
Know your market to carefully tailor your design and pitch, and deploy these tools consistently in your sales and marketing activities across all channels so the brand becomes easily recognizable.3. Embrace Failure
It seems counterintuitive, but a great deal can be learned from branding failures. The marketplace is crowded and it can be difficult to know where you fit in. Each failure is a guide in the right direction.4. Don't Think Like a Small Business
Thing big from the start. Act as if you're operating across multiple territories—you never know when that might actually happen, and you'll be prepared when it does!5. Color and Design Matter
Visual identity, including your logo, is often a consumer's first encounter with your brand, so it must create the right impression. Unless you're a designer, avoid the DIY approach and hire a professional; services like Fiverr.com or PeoplePerHour.com can help you to find a freelance designer who suits your style and budget. And keep your identity consistent across media channels by creating a set of brand guidelines with detailed information about the color palette, fonts, and tone of voice to use.6. Go Beyond Your Logo
Many small businesses make the mistake of confusing their brand with their logo. A logo is merely a symbol or other design adopted by an organization to identify its products, property, etc. A brand, meanwhile, is the public personification of your company, conveying everything you believe and hold dear about what you do. As the saying goes, people buy a product but they join a cause—make your brand memorable.7. Choose Your Brand Name Carefully
Don't ruin great branding by giving your brand a bad name. A brand name must reinforce the key elements or objectives of your business. Remember: The more it communicates to your audience about your business and what it provides, the less effort you'll expend trying to explain it. (If you need some help, a recent article in Inc. talks about How to Come Up with the Best Name for Your Brand.)These are the basics, but you can always read the original article (and its linked material) for more information. Happy branding!
